The weeks leading up to my 40th birthday in April, it was as if God was showing me the significance of the number 40 over and over. In my opinion 40 is a very significant number in Biblical terms.
As the days passed by, it is as if every single Bible story we read to our children before they went to sleep, featured the number 40. The Israelites that wandered in the desert for 40 years, Kings that ruled for 40 years, Jesus that was in the desert for 40 days, and so the list goes on.
I then decide to look up the meaning of 40 in my book to try and understand the meaning of the number and WHY God laid it on my heart.
Text quoted from the book: The numeric association can be calculated by multiplying four (material completeness, worldly kingdom) with ten (fulfilment, completeness) which implies the fulfilment of worldly or material dominion (or trial).
The book refers further to the 40 years that the Israelites were in the desert, the time Moses spent in the desert before he got the instruction from God to free the Israelites, the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert and a few others. This is more or less the same as a previous paragraph in this blog what God had shown me beforehand.
Another quotation from the book: This implies that natural circumstances have to fall in place (fulfilled, matured) so that you can be released to take up your place in your calling (or position of leadership and authority). It symbolises that the time of trial is over and the time of release has arrived. This is also the number of Judah (in Hebrew) whose name means praise the Lord or celebrate. This is also the number for milk (in Hebrew) which symbolises the foundation (basis) of the Word of God which gives people a basic understanding of the teachings of the Word.
The text quoted with this is Heb 5:12. I decide to look up the scripture on my electronic version of the Bibles on my phone, as the desks that I work on, look like a paper tornado went through them (yes you read correctly – plural, more than one desk. Those who know me will understand that I need SPACE to work on). It looks like that, because I am trying to create order in my work life and it feels like it has been going on like this for months!! The constant prioritizing of urgent matters and working, tending to requests from clients…papers lying, waiting in anticipation for responses from clients after requests have been sent, not wanting to put it away as I will surely forget to follow up on these matters.
Initially I read it in Afrikaans. I then decide to read it in English too, to ensure that I gain a proper clear understanding of the scripture that God has placed before me.
I also decide to select the option to compare versions on the Bible app. This helps me to read it in different versions of English and Afrikaans, to gain a deeper and better understanding of what is being said.
The New International Version explains it as follows: In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk not solid food!
I read the meaning in my book again. Then I grasp it! As babies, we all drank milk. No one ate solid foods like pumpkin or Purity when they were born! The milk that we drank, whether it was breast milk or milk from a tin, gave our bodies the foundation to grow so that you can get to the point where you can eat your pumpkin or Purity.
The verse does not imply to me that, at the age of 40, one is not ready for the deeper more meaningful information contained in God’s word. No, you see, I see it as follows – up to this point in time, I have had milk. God’s word was given to me in smaller portions, the form being easier to digest. This was the basis for me.
I read on in my book. There is a heading Maturity in Understanding. A symbolic meaning. It can be seen as the age of maturity, understanding and ability to rule, when a man reaches his intellectual prime. It also suggests completeness and conclusion (Num 32:13). It symbolizes a period of rest (40 or 80 years). (Judg 3:11, 30; Judg 5:31; Judg 8:28).
The text in Numbers refers to the time when the wrath of God flamed up towards the Israelites and He banished them to the desert for 40 years. He did this until the ENTIRE generation that sinned against Him and in His eyes, were gone.
Wow! He must have been MAD at them!! We all know how unfaithful they were and how disobedient they were towards Him. But sometimes we miss the scripture about WHY they went into the desert and WHAT the plan was with this. God had to cleanse the Israelites, the generations that were unfaithful and disobedient towards Him had to die first. Wow, this is BIG!
The scripture in Judges (just an after thought – I did not know what book Judges was in Afrikaans at the time when I typed the Afrikaans version of this entry. I had to select the English version on my bible first and then go back to Afrikaans to get to the name in Afrikaans….I was chuckling at myself while I struggled to do the translations of the book names…). Anyway, back to the point about the scripture in Judges – I have decided that the previous sentence was now too long and confusing that I have to start a new paragraph to explain this.
Judges 3:11 tells us that the land had to rest for forty years. Verse 30 refers to land that had to rest for eighty years. All the other verses in Judges refers to the land that had to rest for forty years in different times when different leaders were leading the Israelites.
I think for a moment about the scripture. What is God really trying to tell me? While I was typing this, thinking it over, I feel the Holy Spirit press on my heart. It is as if He wants to show me that the time was not right for me before 40. I was not ready.
Maybe I was like a piece of land that had to rest for 40 years, if you want to look at it like that. I know, deep inside my spirit, that, when God showed me the first time, at the age of 27 years what He had planned for me, I was not ready! I was not mature enough for the task.
Until now I had drunk milk. Little by little I took it in, digested it, thought it through, growing in the process. But now I am ready! I am ready to take the next step to the maturity to spread God’s word in the manner that HE wants me to do it!
Here is to being 40! Being forty and fabulous (also known as Fortabulous!). Thank you God for the opportunity to be Your instrument. May I always only preach and say what YOU want me to say. May each and every person ALWAYS remember that it is not about me, but ALWAYS about God. All the Glory be to God and Him alone!
Om 40 te wees
